[Taha]

Well, considering the astounding number of switchers Aqua-Soft has been producing, I thought I'd just create a thread that would make you, the ****ie switcher, feel more comfortable with Mac OS X. This will comprise mainly of shortcut keys, useful applications and getting to know the GUI better.

Shortcuts:
System Shortcuts
1) Cmd+Shift+3: take a screenshot of the entire screen.
2) Cmd+Shift+4: take a screenshot of a slection. Or press spacebar to take a screenshot of a window.
3) Cmd+I: Get Info, for a file, folder or drive.
4) Cmd+Alt+Esc: Force Quit an app
5) Cmd+Shift+Q: Log Out

Application Shortcuts
1) Cmd+W: Close the current open window of an application
2) Cmd+Q: Close the entire application. This closes all current windows and exits the program.
3) Cmd+M: Minimize a window.
4) Cmd+H: Hide a window. The [faster] alternative to minimize a window. It just hides the app. You can see it again by clicking on the corresponding dock icon.
5) Cmd+Tab: Switch between apps.
6) Cmd+~: Switch between windows of an app. eg, multiple open Safari windows. Note the difference between 5) and 6).

Useful Applications:
1) Cocktail: System utility that lets your mac run at its best. Also several other nice features.
2) Transmit: Best FTP client
3) Acquisition: Lovely P2P app.
4) Poisoned: An even better P2P app.
5) mlMac: Another great P2P app.
6) VLC and MPlayer OSX: to play DivX and all other video files
7) Candybar: to apply icon themes.
8) Themechanger: The best theme changer for OS X.
9) Aquafix: to restore the default aqua theme
10) Drive 10: AMAZING defragging and drive maintenance app.
11) Meteorologist: Display the temperature in the menubar.
12) Mousezoom: To increase the speed of the mouse
13) Silk: To smooth the nasty fonts of Carbon apps (OS 9 compatible apps). OS X native apps are Cocoa.
14) WindowshadeX: to shade windows like in OS 9.
15) Also visit http://unsanity.com for some neat apps..

You can get all these, and more, apps from http://versiontracker.com or http://macupdate.com

I would also recommend browsing the Spymac and Macnn forums. They can provide you with some very useful information.

[contrasutra]

WindowshadeX? I thought OS X had built in Shading?

[Taha]

no, OS 9 has it built in..

[contrasutra]

Now you feel my pain on Windows.

After using Linux for so long, its impossible to get by w/o window shading.

Thank God for freeshade.

[Spacedog]

Yes, very useful, thanks... lots of good software and advice in your list, taha...

[Asapin]

OSX has built in shading, but it's only shading on or shading off. Windowshade will let you modify how much shadow you have. nice list. Thanks.

[smoke]

They mean shading as in shrinking the window to the titlebar not shadowing, as in putting a shadow around the window. Another word for shading is rolling up the window.

Some people who make themes (and I used to) put the pill on the right to roll up the window though it doesn't do that on OSX and it's not on all windows. It's a hide the toolbar button and it's only on windows that have toolbars that can be hidden.

When people use it as a rollup button and they switch to OSX they kind of expect it to do the same thing but they get a little confused when it doesn't so I chose to remove it and have a double click roll up the window like with windowshadeX or the freeshade utility on windows.

P.S. I know this is kind of off topic but those who want system wide hotkeys like OSX on XP there is a hotkey type program on object desktop now.

[Fissy]

I was using a mac today, and found that the only way i could close the app was to go to the mighty apple menu top bar.
Why does the X traffic light not close the program but just the window? Can it be made to close the whole program down?
also is there anyway to have some sort of *horror* start menu? or do you have to put every icon in the dock to start an application?
thanks,
fissy

[Taha]

Quote

Originally posted by fissyb@May 5 2003, 07:32 PM
I was using a mac today, and found that the only way i could close the app was to go to the mighty apple menu top bar.
Why does the X traffic light not close the program but just the window? Can it be made to close the whole program down?
also is there anyway to have some sort of *horror* start menu? or do you have to put every icon in the dock to start an application?
thanks,
fissy

look at the top post.

[Fissy]

ok i feel very stupid, still though, i thought macs were supposed to be simpler?
Mac users can't cope with 2 buttoned mice, but have to remember stupid key combinations? arrggghhhh
can it be set so that closing the last window closes the program?

[Taha]

nope. IMO, command+Q (Q for quit) is MUCH simpler and just makes more sense than alt+f4 (alt standing for what? F4 stading for what?). Also, there are MORE options to close an app, unlike Windows.
So being a good OS does NOT mean having a greater resemblance to Windows. Only in windows do you have the danger of closing an app accidentally if you clicked the close button accidentally. In OS X, you can rely on the fact that to actually CLOSE an app, the command is different from just closing the window in the app. You just have to get accustomed to OS X.

Believe me, after having used OS X for a while, I now feel awkward using the controls in Windows..

Keyword: Not, Necessary, Copy, Windows, To, Be, Good, Operating, Sytem

[Goku]

hey taha, this a good topic, thanks for writing these down.

[Fissy]

Quote

Keyword: Not, Necessary, Copy, Windows, To, Be, Good, Operating, Sytem

Well they shouldn't have copied windows and put the close/max/min buttons together, that way accidently pressing close wouldn't be a concern

cmdQ is much more natural than altF4 of course, but surely the most natural way to close an application is to close windows until you can no longer see it. I do that in X and damn music is still coming out.

edit: i'm not trying to start a windows/mac fight, i'm thinking of buying a mac and i want to be certain that it is the magically better OS, because the computers are so expensive

[Taha]

well, Fissyb, the fact is that Linux, OS X, and Windows all function differently. But I don't consider OS X to be better or worse than the other two because I am used to it. Similarly, double-clicking the titlebar in Linux collapses the window, not maximize. One could argue that maximizing seems more logical. But the fact is that each OS is unique, and to feel comfortable using it, you just have to get used to it.

@Goku: Thanks. I think this is a very important subject. Most new switchers feel very home-sick and don't know how to get around in OS X for the first few weeks, and I thought I'd help out with my immense knowledge

[contrasutra]

Yeah, but in Linux, you can easily change it. In fact, the first time you start KDE, it asks you what OS your acustomed to (unix,Windows,OSX), and it changes all the settings to match that. Mmmmm.......choice...

[Fissy]

Yeah, Taha if you want the window to maximise when you double click on it you can set it to do just that in linux. I think the default linux way is more natural, but i'm used to windows, and i don't see any point in rolling up the whole window, if i want to get rid of it i'll minimise it.

I'm sure i'd get used to it like you taha, but it just seems stupid to me, whose grown up on windows 3.1 and 95.
I suppose there are uses like you can start an album in itunes, then get rid of its window which is useless when you're listening anyway - it just feels counter-intuitive.
Thanks for the advice by the way when i get a mac, hopefully september time i'm sure it'll come in useful.

fissy

[contrasutra]

Windowshading is one the most productive tools you can use. I can have 100 Windows open on the desktop, and still have no clutter. I can then just hover over them, and they unroll so I can see them, then move on to the next window and the previous one closes and the new one opens.

Maximizing is ineffecient, if I maximize, I cant see ANYTHING else on the screen.


PS. Taha, if you use KDE, you can have a nifty "finder" like bar at the top of the screen, so you dont have the menus inside each window. I dont like that, but since your a mac person, maybe you like that better.

[Fissy]

i think that feature i kde would be good, but you can't add anything else to that top bar, meaning you have to have other panels all over the place
Thats why i use gnome

edit: i don't know how big your screen is Contra, but i have to maximise most windows to see whats in them. I always maximise aqua-soft other wise i'd permanantly have bottom scroll bars.

[Taha]

Quote

Originally posted by fissyb@May 11 2003, 04:26 PM
Yeah, Taha if you want the window to maximise when you double click on it you can set it to do just that in linux. I think the default linux way is more natural, but i'm used to windows, and i don't see any point in rolling up the whole window, if i want to get rid of it i'll minimise it.

LOL... if your point is you can CHANGE it, you can change it in OS X too. You can have it maximize or roll up the window...

[Fissy]

you were saying the linux way is unnatural - i was saying its more natural but useless to me and you can change it if you want anyway. (just in case you were getting annoyed with the linux way on your mandrake system.)

I think its more natural because theres no reason to think clicking on the title bar would maximise it, but minimising the window to the title bar sounds natural.

anyway, none of this really matters anyway does it we can all change it to how we like best.

fissy